


How About We Don't (But What If We Do)

by SynthSea



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe, Extremely Non-Canon Bill Cipher, F/M, Human AU, M/M, Other, Polyamory, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Slow Burn, You May As Well Consider Him an OC, extremely au, i don't know how i'm gonna explain the fact that this fic is the reason that tag is used
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-06 16:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8760604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SynthSea/pseuds/SynthSea
Summary: An AU inside an AU. Like a nesting egg of AUs. Or "I Heard You Like AUs So Here's An AU In Your AU So You Can Write An Alternate Version of A Canon Character While You Drag Your Friends Into Rarepair Hell"
Law School AU combined with Guardians AU (specifically the "Protector of the Falls" AU when the fandom was still speculating Bill Cipher's role in the show)

Undecided, and very much at loss in the face of her future, Wendy Corduroy strikes up an unlikely friendship with Bill, a law student in his final year, and star student of the law department for his "smooth as the devil" reputation. What's even more unlikely, is that somehow, she finds herself a person of interest to an eccentric professor known for finding hidden talents.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheLittleMightyOne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLittleMightyOne/gifts).



> DISCLAIMER: my understanding of how law school works goes as far as that one time I was in Legally Blonde the musical and I watched the musical several times on youtube and did vague research because I wanted to write fanfiction
> 
> I was a theatre major what do you expect
> 
> I also dedicate this fic to my friend who dragged me into the most rarepair of rarepair hell
> 
> Let’s burn together, old chap

A senior in Intermediate Psych.

This was what hell was like, Wendy supposed. Being a senior in a class full of freshmen, in a class meant for people still deciding on a major. Or people who had actually settled on Psychology as their major. Fourth year, and she had switched majors three times. Amazingly, Psychology wasn't one of them.

Freshman year was spent undecided, when she was still fresh faced and in sheer awe at the fact that she’d managed to make it to university. Sophomore year, looking at the various colleges and schools and, for some reason, deciding that environmental science was the way to go. Junior year was spent regretting the previous declaration, drinking, and spending far more time with a school therapist than she would have liked to admit. She also decided on journalism, after several meetings with her advisor.

And now here she was. Psychology 101 to fulfill an elective for her general education requirements.

Actually, all her courses had her on track for a criminology major, and her advisor had somewhat helpfully nudged her along those tracks. Which lead to her bumping elbows with wide eyed freshmen and exhausted seniors like her.

“Hey.”

Wendy looked up. One of her classmates had approached her, wide charming smile, and casual posture against the desk. He didn't look like a freshman, and he certainly didn't sound like one either, with how casually he’d been bantering with the professor.

Scratch banter, it had been arguments and challenges non-stop, and was honestly the most amusing part of what would have been a boring, run-of-the-mill syllabus day.

“Hey, what's up?”

He leaned down at her, and Wendy resisted the urge to move back. “Wanna be study partners? I know it's just the first day and all, but I figure--”

“Sure.”

“--might be advan-- Wait, really?” he cut off mid-sentence, looking taken aback. Wendy shrugged and packed the last of her stuff.

“Yeah, I mean. I don't see why not.”

Bill puffed up and beamed at her, and Wendy couldn't help grinning back. Something about his good spirits was infectious, and she was reminded of a bird fluffing its feathers. In a way, it was adorable.

“Sweet! Here's my contact info -- I’ve got a class to get to, but we can figure out when and where to meet!”

“Sounds good to me, dude.” Wendy stifled a laugh as she took the piece of paper -- apparently he’d been planning this since his number and email were all written out. Bill, it read, with a drawn out winking emoji right above the string of letters and numbers. She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

Bill clicked fingerguns at her, and winked, mirroring the emoji on the paper. “Awesome! I’ll catch ya later then, Red!”

Before she could even react to the cursory nickname, he’d grabbed his bag and ran out the door. Wendy could only blink in silence before shaking her head and running out. She had about half an hour to grab a bite before the next class.

That hour and half turned into ten minutes when she missed her bus, and Wendy was just about ready to murder anyone that got in her way as she ran full tilt in the law school building. A quick glance at a nearby clock showed her that she was already fifteen minutes late. She growled under her breath, resisting the urge to tug on her hair in frustration. Fortunately, the same wall the clock was mounted on had a placard that told her where to go for the lecture hall she was looking for.

In hindsight, running straight into the doors at full force was not a good idea.

The doors slammed into the walls with a deafening BANG, and it was only because of Wendy’s outstretched hands that she caught them when they bounced back. The hall was dead silent, because everyone had stopped to stare at her. Going by the irritated look the professor wore on his face, she had clearly interrupted him mid-sentence.

“...And if you’re late to lecture, as long as you aren’t a _disturbance_ to your fellow students,” Eyes followed Wendy as she crept towards the back of the row sheepishly. She winced at the emphasis, but shuffled into a seat and wished that the earth would swallow her whole. “You can find an empty seat in the back row. Now, as I was saying, attendance isn’t mandatory, but there will be mini mock trials and debates in class based on previously assigned reading. So it would be in your best interest to show up.”

The professor set the syllabus paper down, and waved at three people in the front. “So, these are your TAs. You all have a post-lecture discussion section with one of them, so make sure you check your schedule to find out when and where you meet. I’ll let them introduce themselves.”

The first one stood up and turned around to smile at all the lackluster faces of the students. Wendy blinked, and stared. Slowly, without realizing, she sat up in dawning recognition.

“I’m Bill Minkah, but just call me Bill.” Without meaning to, Bill caught her eye and stunned expression. In the second that they had eye contact, his mouth twitched into a crooked grin, the same one he gave her when he’d asked her to be a study buddy not long ago. Then he sat down, and the next TA went on to introduce themselves.

Wendy, however, wasn’t listening anymore. Frantically, she dug through her bag for a printed copy of her schedule. She scanned the columns and times, looking for the one marked Psychology 101 Discussion. Section two. She attacked the syllabus with the same fervor, relaxing visibly when she saw that her section was to meet with the third TA that was introducing himself now.

There was no rational reason to be so stressed over having Bill as a TA. But he was also her classmate, and study buddy for said class. Having him as a TA would be doubly weird.

She also didn’t want to consider the fact that some part of her brain had been fawning over his lazy but confident smile. She wasn’t blind. But that was just a complication she didn’t need on her plate, on top of the stress of graduating in four years while she still was undeclared.

No, Wendy thought, hopefully things were just going to die down and having a grad student help her with one of her classes would make the whole process easier.

The rest of lecture went pretty smoothly. To her mild alarm, the professor had dived on into the text and expected reading. Having done none of them, Wendy could only sink into her chair and copy down notes furiously. More than once, she found her nose nearly touching the paper while her fingers grew sore from holding her pen in a deathgrip. But eventually class ended, and Wendy could relax with an exhausted sigh.

She glanced at her phone. Nearly four thirty, and that lecture had been her last class of the day. All that was left to do was to drag her body to the student dorms, consider the pros and cons of having ramen for the rest of the semester, and probably distract herself from doing actual work on her laptop.

“What a coincidence, huh?”

Wendy looked up. Bill had his hands in his pockets, his jacket slung over one shoulder, slightly covering his shoulder bag from view.

Wendy forced an awkward laugh. “Yeah. Small world. Or campus. So you’re a grad student?”

Bill shook his head. “Law student.”

Wendy’s eyebrows shot up. What on earth was he taking Psychology 101 for then? And if the stories she heard about law school were correct, Bill’s schedule would be uncommonly busy compared to hers.

“So it’s still pretty early in the semester. I’m not swamped with stuff yet, and since you’re here, do you have anything going on after class?”

Wendy shook her head. Bill beamed at her.

“Perfect! What do you say, we grab dinner and get a head start on the Psych stuff. I’ll even let you in on some of the stuff Professor Brent might be covering next time in class. Think of it as a favor.”

The second half of his sentence took a while to register, but once it did, Wendy stared at him in disbelief. No way favors were given out of nowhere. But for now, it would definitely be a leg up, and she could use all of those that she could get. Her mind made up, Wendy gathered her things into her bag quickly.

“Sure, why not?”

**Author's Note:**

> set me on fire but rose i said i'd do it so here it is here it frickfrackin is  
> also apologies to psychology majors -- i don't mean to diss your field of study
> 
> THIS FIC WILL FEATURE:
> 
> Quentin Trembley -- a professor up for tenure, known for bizarre yet effective methods. Law school eccentric.
> 
> William “Bill” Minkah -- law student, last year 
> 
> Wendy Corduroy -- not sure what the fuck she’s doing. Fourth year undergrad. Criminology major?


End file.
